The week in late May when the Cubs played a 6 game road trip with 3 against St. Louis and then 3 against San Diego was my hardest week as a Cub fan. It was terrible, and I thought it had been going on for a month. The first game was a complete game shutout by Joel Piñiero, just another ugly loss to the Cards. The second game saw the return of Chris Carpenter, the Cardinals' best pitcher on the staff who hasn't gone a full healthy season since who knows when. Carpenter was held to a pitch count allowing him to go five innings, three hits, no runs. The bullpen shut down the Cubs until the ninth, when Micah Hoffpauir hit an RBI single. The final score was 2-1 Cards, the first game was 3-0. In the last game, Adam Wainwright came an out from a complete game, but Ryan Franklin picked up the save in the 3-1 loss to the Cardinals. In San Diego, I thought they could turn a corner playing a bad despite hot team. The Padres came in and out of the series rolling. In the first game, Carlos Zambrano struggled in his return to the rotation and Jake Peavy handled the Cubs lineup finely. Their next loss was 3-1 with the first homer on the whole road trip belonging to Derrek Lee. It was progress, but only one run. In the next game, Reed Johnson hit a two-run shot, but that was it. The score was 7-2. Road trip totals: Cubs scored 5 runs in 6 games, or .83 runs per game. The opponents: The Cardinals scored 8 in 3 games, and the Padres scored 14 in the 3 games.
Thankfully, the Cubs actually did make it out of there. Back at home, of course, the pitching stopped working just as a tease on Monday night against the Pirates. A 10-8 loss was an offensive win, though. The Cubs did end up win 4 of the 7 on the homestand against Pittsburgh and the LA Dodgers. In June, the Cubs split two extra inning games with the Braves, then went to Cincy where Zambrano threw a gem and started talking retirement. Big Z may be crazy, but he never fails to entertain people. He says he'll retire at the end of his contract, in the 2012 or 2013, at the age of 32 or 33. It was his 100th win Friday, and he got that milestone three years ahead of when Randy Johnson did, who just got his 300th. It's a shame because I know he has the stuff to win 300. People don't believe me, but he just has to get consistent. He had five walks against the Reds because his stuff was so good it surprised him. Oh yeah, he also hit a home run. Here's my opinion: Big Z, we love ya. We'd love to see you pitch for us until around 2020, but if you really want to retire, then that is best for you. Just one thing: Get us a ring first. GO CUBS GO!!! (Cubs 27-25)
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